Cut-off mechanism



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 B. M. FINE CUT-OFF MECHANISM Original Filed Oct. 17.

Jul 15 1924.

l l l B. M. FINE CUT-OFF MECHANISM Original Filed Colt, 17

1921 2 SheetsSheet. 2

IN I/E N TOR A TTOR/VEYS Patented July 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrics.

BERNARD M. FINE, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 10 SAMUEL M. LANGSTON COMPANY, OF CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, A GORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CUT-OFF MECHANISM.

Original application filed October 17, 1921, Serial No. 508,082. Patent No. 1,480,059, dated June 28, 1923.

Divided and this application filed June 19, 1922. ierial No. 589,396.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD M. FINE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cut-Ofl' Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This application is a division of my prior and oopendin application, Serial No. 508,082, filed ctober 17th, 1921, (Patent 1,460,059, granted June 26, 1923) and the invention relates to machines for cutting continuously advancing sheet material into sections and delivering them for stacking.

I do not wish to be limited to any particular kind of sheet material, although certain features of my invention have in mind sheet material of such general properties as that employed in the manufacture of composition shingles. Among the important features and objects of my invention are the complete and accurate severing of the sheet into sections without interfering with the uniform and continuous advancement of the sheet, the elimination of slack in the.

sheet at the cut ofl mechanism, the supporting and conveying of the sections from the cut ofl mechanism to the feed rolls, the advancing of each section at a faster speed than'that of the body immediately upon its severance, the guiding or directing of the sections to separate conveyors, and the reversing of the position of the guiding means after a predetermined number of sheets have been delivered to a conveyor. These and various other features will be pointed out more particularly in connection with the following detailed description of one of many forms which my invention may assume. Ido not wish to be limited to the specific form illustrated, except in so far as it is defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings 2- Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a portion of a machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the portions of the machine shown in Fig. 1, parts being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1, but viewed in the opposite direction.

a Fig. 4 is a figure similar to a portion of Fig. 1, but showing the guiding'means in the opposite limiting position, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3, but on a somewhat larger scale.

The machine as illustrated may be designed and built independent of any particular machine for the manufacture, slitting, scoring or other treatment of the material, and in many respects independent of any particular mechanism for stacking the sheet.

So far as certain features of the invention are concerned, it is preferable, if not essential, that the cut ofi' mechanism be of such a type that it does not interfere with the continuous and uniform delivery [of sheet material. This is preferably accomplished by employing a cut oil mechanism which will move back and forth in the general direction of travel of the sheet, and will out while traveling with the sheet and at approximately the same speed. A preferred cutoil mechanism is that illustrated and claimed in the Langston Patent 1,859,076, issued November 16th, 1920. Reference is to be had to said patent for a more complete disclosure of the'construction and operation. The cut of! mechanism includes a cutter 10 mounted on a transverse beam 11 which latter is carried by arms 12 mounted to swing about a stationary axis13. A second cutter 14 is carried by another transverse beam 15, which latter is carried by arms 16 pivoted to the arms 12. The cut.

oil mechanism is operated by a crank connected to the ends of the arms 16 so as to give the cutter 10 a back and forth movement in the general direction of travel of the material, and an approximately elliptical movement to the cutter 14 and intersecting the path of movement-of the cutter 10 during the movement of the latter with the material.

Any suitable means maybe employed for continuously and uniforml advancing the sheet between said cutters m the direction of the arrow. Merely for pur ses of illustration I have shown a pair 0 driven feed rolls 17-48 forthis purpose. The advancin end of the sheet enters between a pair 0 superposed teed rolls 19-20 spaced just beyond the limiting position of the cut oil mechanism. The ower feed roll 20 is made up of a series of axially spaced material gripping or engaging portions 21 (see Fig. 2) and between these portions 21 there are intermediate portions 22 of reduced diameter and preferably in the form of idler rolls free to rotate in either direction in res eat to the sheet-engaging portions 21. ese idler rolls may hem the form of sleeves or collars mounted on roller bearings.

For supporting the material. between the cutter and the feed rolls l920, for guiding the sheet to these rolls, preventing the end from dropping down between the cutter ing these belts, conveyors or supports taut,

or under tension. Such means may include a series of springs 24; each secured to the end of its corresponding belt section, and to an adjusting and securing connection 25 on the base or other stationary part of the machine. Phus, as the cutter 10 moves back and forth the portions of the belts 23 be? tween the cutter and the feed rolls will remain. taut and the beltswill move back and forth between the cutting rolls by the rotation of the idlers 22, first in one direction and then in the other. This movement will not interfere with the proper 'pping and advancing. of the material dtween the feed roll 19 and the portions 21 of the lower feed roll. Furthermore, the out off mechanism and the feed rolls are so positioned in respect to each other and the cut oil mechanism operates to make sections of such length that the advancing end of the sheet enters between the feed roll 19-20 before the cutting action takes place, and therefore the return movement of the cutter and belts does not interfere with the continuous advancement of the cut oil sections after they have entered. between the feed rolls 19-20.

If no lengthwise slitting of the sheet has taken place and the cut oil section is therefore of a single piece of full width of the sheet, the number, width and spacing of the belts 23 is comparatively unimportant. In that case it is only essential that there be enough of these belts, and that they be of such width as will properly support the sheet between the cutter and the feed rolls. If the sheet be slitted lengthwise into strips before the cut off action takes place, the out 01f section will include a plurality of separate pieces A, and in that event the belts 23 should be properly spaced in respect to these separate pieces. In the manufacture of composition shingles it is customary to cut notches a at the corners of the shingles, as indicated in Fig. 2, and these notches may be out even thou h the sheet is not slitted lengthwise to ma e individual shingles. If any such portion of the sheet is cut therefrom, either in the making of shingles or any other articles, it is preferably that the belts 23 be so positioned that the small ieces may fall from the cut off section an between adja cent belts 23. As shown, the belts 23 are so'positioned as to correspond in number to the shingles A, and each belt comes intermediate the side edges of the corresponding shingle so that the notches a come between adjacent belts.

Beyond. the feed rolls 19-20 are another pair of superposed feed rolls 2728 which receive the cutoff sections from the feed rolls 19-20. The sections may be guided across from one pair of feed rolls to the other on a supporting platform 29, or in any other suitable manner, but the two pairs of rolls are referably so spaced in respect to each other that the sheet sections enter between the rolls 27 and 28 before they leave the rolls 1920.' If desired the slitting means may be mounted between the rolls 19-20 and the rolls 27-28.

In order to facilitate the operation of the stacking mechanism and prevent the possibility of one section overlapping or interfering with another, I provide means whereby the transverse cut is opened up by a spacing apart of the cut off sections. This is accomplished by operating the feed rolls 2728 at a higher speed of surface travel than that of the rate of travel of the body of the sheet, determined for instance, by the speed of surface travel of the rolls 1718. The rolls 1920 engage with the advancing end of the sheet both before and after the cut off action, and therefore I provide means whereby the speed of these rolls varies so as to prevent any slipping or grinding action of them on the material and to prevent them from retarding the movement of the cut off sections. The driving mechanism is shown as including adrive chain 30 operated from the same wurce of power as that which advances the body of the sheet. This chain engages a sprocket 31 on the shaft 32 of the feed roll 28. This shaft has a gear meshin lll) LBQLCQES mitting power to a gear 3% on the shaft 3'? of the lower feed roll 20. The gear 36 is not directly keyed to the shaft 3? but is connected thereto by a suitable slip friction clutch. One form which this clutch may assume is illustrated in Fig. 5. The gear 3'6 has an annular flange 38 enclosing a multiple disk clutch, each alternate disk being held against rotation in respect to the flange and the remaining disks being held against rotation in respect to the shaft. A collar 39 is slidable on the shaft and carries push rods 40 projecting through the gear 36 to press the disks together to give the desired frictional resistance and capability of slipping. The pressure may beaccurately adjusted "for instance by means of a yoke arm 41 pivoted to a bracket 42 on the frame of the machine and engaging trunnions on the collar 39. A. rod 43 engages this arm and carries a hand wheel 44 and spring 45 so that by rotation of the hand wheel any desired resilient pressure may be applied to the clutch and the slipping permitted only when the resistance exceeds the predetermined amount. The shaft 27 has a gear 46 meshing with a gear 47 on the shaft of the upper roll 19. The gear transmission ratio is such that when there is no slipping in the clutch the feed rolls 1920 will travel with the same surface speed as the feed rolls 2Z'28, this speed being materially higher than that at which the sheet of uncut material is advanced. The friction of the clutch is so adjusted that as soon as the advancing end of the sheet enters between the rolls 1920, the slipping takes place in the clutch and the rolls 1920 rotate with approximately the same surface speed as the sheet. In other words, the speed of these rolls is held down by the resistance which the main bod of the sheet oii'ers to an increase in spee The instant that the cut off action takes place this resistance terminates,v and then slipping oi the clutch may terminate and the rolls 19-2O will immediately increase their speed to that of the rolls 27-28. Thus, when the cut otf section enters between the rolls 2728 it will be traveling at the surface speed of the latter and there will be no slipping of the sheet material between these rolls. The rolls 19-20 rotate at one speed while enga 'ng with the sheet before the end is cut 0%: and rotate at a higher speed as soon as the section is out 05. Thus the instant that the cut elf action takes place, the cut off section jumps forward to widen the gap between it and the advancing end "for the next successive section. To take care of variations in the thickness of the sheet material, the upper feed rolls 19 and 27 are preferably mounted for such vertical movement as is necessary to take car of the variations in thickness of the sheet. As shown, the shaft of the upper roll 19 is mounted in a pair of pivoted arms 48, and the shaft of the roll 27 is mounted in a pair of pivoted arms 49. If the Sllp .clutch be tightened sufliciently, the rolls 1920 will hold constant speed and slip on the sheet until cut the oil takes place. This is permissible with some sheet materials and therefore for such materials the clutch may be omitted and the rolls 19-20 directly geared for the proper constant speed of rotation.

My improved machine is particularly de-- signed for high speed operation and building up stacks each containing a predetermined number of sheets. To accomplish this I object I provide two separate stack supports and deliver a predetermined number of sheets to one stack and then the same number to the other stack, thus providing time for the operator to remove one and permit the delivery mechanism to return to starting position while the other stack is being piled up. The delivery mechanism includes two conveyors 50-51-, each preferably in the form of a set of endless belts. provided for guiding the sheets to one conveyor for a predetermined interval and then to the other conveyor for a similar interval. The feed roll 28' preferably serves as one of the supporting rollers for the conveyor belts 51, and a second pair of feed rolls 52-53 are provided, the lower one 52, serving as one of the supporting rollers for the conveyor belts 50. The feed rolls 5253 are disposed beyond the rolls 2728 in the general direction of travel of the material, and preferably at av slightly higher elevation. The conveyor bolts 50 are arranged above the conveyor belts 51, and preferably the two diverge, the former being slightly inclined upwardly, and the latter slightly inclined downwardly. Means are provided for preventing or permitting the delivery of the sheets from the feed rolls 27-428 to the feed rolls 52-53. This obviously acts to permit. or prevent the delivery of the sheets on to the conveyor belts 51. Such a guiding means is illustrated as a plate 54 secured to a pivot 55 just in advance of the line of tangency of the feed rolls 5253, and presenting fingers 56 projecting through between the rolls 27-28. The lower roll 26 has a series of spaced portions of reduced diameter for receiving the belts 5i and between adjacent belts there are additional portions 57 of reduced diameter registering with corresponding portions 58 of reduced diameter in the upper roll 27. The fingers 56 project into the passages between the rolls formed by these reduced diameter portions 57 and 58, and are so positioned and of such length that they may be raised or lowered and come either above or below the line of tangency of the material engaging portions of the two rolls Means are 27-28. When tl'ie guide plate 54 and its fingers are in the lower position, as indicated in Fig. 1, all of the cut oil sections or sheets as they pass between the rolls 2728 will be guided along the upper surface of the plate to the feed rolls 52-53 and will be carried away by the conveyor 50. With the guide plate 54: in its opposite limiting position, in other words, its rest position, as shown in Fig. 4-, the end of the fingers comes above the line of tangency, and. all of the cut on" sections vor sheets will pass beneath the guide plate 54 and will be carried away on the lower conveyor 51. The feed rolls 52-53 are driven with substantially the same surface speed as the rolls 27-28, and by any suitable driving mechanism. As shown, the shaft 32 of the lower feed roll 28 has a sprocket transmitting power through a chain to a sprocket on the shaft of the lower. roll 52. The upper roll 53 has its shaft mounted in pivoted. arms 61 to permit of variation in the thickness of the material passing between the rolls, and the two rolls have intermeshing gears 62-63 for driving the upper roll 53. So far as the operation is concerned, the upper conveyor might be a single belt of the desired width, but this is not necessary, and preferably a pluralityof narrow belts are employed, each engaging a corresponding reduced diameter portion of the roll 52. To permit the proper operation of the fingers 56, the lower conveyor 51 is made up of the separate spaced belts.

As previously noted, the belts 23 are so positioned that they come intermediate of the edges of the separate pieces of the cut off section, so that cut out portions may fall between. Preferably the belts 50-51 are arranged alternately to the belts 23. In other words, they are so spaced that each piece or shingle A is supported along its two opposite edges as illustrated in Fig. 2. This prevents the side edges from curling down during the comparatively longer run along these conveyors.

For controlling and timing the operation of the guide plate 54 I provide a control shaft 64: with controlling mechanism for reversing the position of the guide 54 after each half revolution of the shaft. As shown, the shaft carries a cam disk 65 having one half of its circumferential track spaced from the other half by shoulder or inclined portions 66. The motion may be transmitted from the cam to the guide plate 5% in various different ways, that illustrated including a pivoted lever 67 mounted to engage the Working face of the cam, and connected by a link 68 to a hell crank lever 69. The latter is connected by a rod 70 to an arm 71 con nected to the guide plate 54 or to the pivotal support for the latter. A. coil sprin 72 normally tends to lift the rod 71 and t us hold amines the operating end of the lever 67 against the cam. The cam, during a half revolution. holds the rod down and keeps the guide 54 in its lowermost position. When the lever 67 rides off the shoulder 66, the spring is two separate stacks or stacking mechanisms but as these formno portion of my present invention they have not been illustrated. They may be such as is shown in my prior application of which this is a division. I reserve the right to here illustrate them should it appear to be advisable.

Having thus described my invention, What l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A machine for cutting sheet material. into sections, including an oscillatory cutter movable back and -fort-h in the general direc tion of travel of the material, a pair of feed rolls spaced from said cutter to receive the end. of the sheet before the cutter severs the end section from the body of the sheet, and supporting members secured to said cutter and movable back and forth therewith and extending between the axes of said feed rolls, said feed rolls permitting free movement of said supporting members, but acting to grip and positively advance the cut-off sections and prevent the return movement of said sections with said supporting members.

2. A machine for cutting sheet material into sections, including an oscillatory cutter movable back and forth in the general direction of the travel of the material, a shaft having rolls rigid therewith and idlers loose thereon, a set of belts secured to said cutter and supported by said idlers and movable back and forth with said cutter, means for holding said belts taut, and a second shaft having means cooperating with said rolls to grip the advancing end of the sheet beyond the cutter and prevent return movement of the cut-off section with said belts.

3. A machine for cutting sheet material into sections, including a cutter movable back and forth in. the general. direction of the travel of the material, a pair of SUPER posed shafts having feed rolls for receiving the advancing end of the sheet and exerting pull thereon during the action of the cutter on the sheet, a series of spaced belt sections secured. to said cutter and extendmg between said shafts and axially spaced from the sheet-gripping portions on. said feed rolls, and extensible spring means connected to the ends of said bolt sections for gaging said idler sections, and means for holding said strips taut, whereby they move back and forth over said idler sections during the back and forth movement of said cutter.

5. A machine for cutting sheet material into sections, including a cutter movable back and forth in the general direction of the travel of the material, a pair of feed rolls for receiving and advancing the cut-off sections, and including spaced material-engaging sections, and intermediate idler sections rotatable in respect to said feed rolls and flexible supporting strips secured to said cutter and extending between the axes of said feed rolls and engaging said idler sections.

6. A machine for subdividing continuously advancing sheet material into sections, including a pair of superposed feed rolls, a cut off mechanism movable back and forthinthe genral direction of travel of the material and operating to sever the material after the advancing end has entered between said rolls, and means tending to rotate said rolls at a higher surface speed than that of the travel of the advancing material and including slip friction connections whereby the surface speed of said rolls may be substantially that of the advancing material prior to the severance of the latter from the body of the sheet.

7 A machine for subdividing continuously advancing sheet material into sections, including a pair of superposed feed rolls, a cut off mechanism operating to sever the material after the advancing end has entered between said rolls, and means tending to rotate said rolls at a higher surface speed than that of the travel of the advancing material and including slip friction connections whereby the surface speed of said rolls may be substantially that of the advancing material prior to the severance of the latter from the body of the sheet.

8. A machine for subdividing continuously advancing sheet material into sections, including a pair of feed rolls for receiving the advancing end of the sheet, mechanism operating to out off the advancing end after the latter enters between said rolls, and operating means for said rolls normally tending to rotate them at a hi her surface speed than the speed of travel 0 the sheet, and including slip friction connections permitting said rolls to rotate with a surface speed not materially greater than that of the sheet prior to the action of the cut ofl mechanism. v

9. A machine for subdividing sheet material into sections, including a pair of fee rolls for engaging with and continuously advancing a sheet of material at a substantially constant speed, a second pair of feed rolls engaging with and operating to advance the cut 0H sections of said sheet and at a higher surface speed than that of the sheet, an intermediate pair of feed rolls, means for driving the last mentioned rolls at the speed of the second mentioned rolls and including a slip friction permitting the third mentioned rolls to rotate at the surface speed of the first mentioned rolls, and cut off mechanism between the first mentioned rolls and the third mentioned rolls.

10. A machine for subdividing sheet material into sections, including a cut off mechanism, a pair of feed rolls engaging the body portion of the sheet, a second pair of feed rolls rotating at a higher surface speed and engaging the cut off sections of the sheet, and an intermediate pair of rolls engaging with the advancing end of the Sheet before the cut of!" action, and means for operating said intermediate rolls at thespeed of the first mentioned rolls before the cut off action and at the speed of the second mentioned rolls after the cut off action.

11. A machine for subdividing sheet material into sections, including cut off mechanism for acting on a continuously advancing sheet to cut it into sections, feed rolls for the cut off sections, means operating said feed rolls at a higher surface speed than that of the body portion of the advancing sheet, intermediate feed rolls and a variable speed driving mechanism therefor, whereby the cut off section is advanced to the first mentioned feed rolls at a higher speed than the rate of advancement of the sheet immediately after the said section is severed from the body of the sheet.

12. A machine for subdividing continuously advancing sheet material into sections, including a cutter movable back and forth in the general direction of travel of the sheet, a pair of superposed feed rolls, the lower roll having portions of reduced diameter, supporting strips secured to said cutter and extendin between said rolls at said points of re uced diameter and movable ack and forth between said rolls with the movement of the cutter, and driving mechanism for said rolls, including a slip friction clutch normally tending to rotate said rolls at a higher surface speed than the speed of travel of the body of the sheet.

13. A machine of the class described, including a pair of superposed feed rolls for receiving the advancing end of the sheet ma.- terial, cut oft mechanism for severing the advancing end after it enters between said rolls, a second pair of superposed rolls for receiving and advancing the cut of section, means tor driving the second mentioned rolls and slip friction driving connections from the second mentioned rolls to the first mentioned. rolls, whereby the first mentioned rolls may rotate at lower surface speed than that of the second mentioned rolls.

1%. A machine of the class described, including a pair of superposed teed rolls for receiving the advancing end of a sheet of material, cut 0d mechanism for severing said advancing end. after it enters between said rolls, and a second pair of superposed rolls for receiving and advancing the cut ofi section, the lower roll of each pair having spaced portions of reduced diameter, and flexible conveyor belts engaging with the portions of reduced diameter of both rolls.

15. A machine of the class described, including a pair of superposed feed rolls for receiving the advancing end of a sheet of material, cut of? mechanism for severing said advancin end after it enters between said rolls, an a second pair of superposed rolls for receiving and advancing the cut off section. the lower roll of each pair having spaced portions of reduced diameter, and flexible conveyor belts engaging .with thp portions of reduced diameter ofboth ro ls.

16. A machine of the class described, in-- cluding a air of superposed feed rolls for receiving t he advancing end of a sheet of material, cut on mechanism for severing said advancing end after it enters between said rolls, and a second pair of superposed rolls for receiving and advancing the cut ofi' section, the lower roll of each pair having spaced portions of reduced diameter, and separate sets of flexible conveyor belts engaging with the portions of reduced diameter, one of said belts advancing the material to the first mentioned pair of rolls and the other advancing the material from the second pair of rolls.

17. A machine of the class described, including a pair of superposed feed rolls for receiving the advancing end of a sheet of material, cut off mechanism for severing said advancing end after it enters between said rolls, and a second pair of superposed neona es rolls for receiving and advancing the cutotl section, the lower roll of each pair having spaced portions of reduced diameter, a set of flexible conveyor belts engaging with. the portions of reduced diameter of the lower roll of the first mentioned pair and movable back and forth to separately advance successive sections, and a set of flexible conveyor belts engaging with the portions of reduced diameter of the lower roll of the second mentioned pair and movable continuously in one direction to deliver the cut oil? sections from said last mentioned rolls.

18. A machine of the class described, including a pair of superposed teed rolls for receiving the advancing end of a sheet of material, cut off mechanism for severing said advancing end after it enters between said rolls, and a second pair of superposed rolls for receiving and advancing the cut off section, the lower roll of each pair having spaced portions of reduced diameter and flexible conveyor belts engaging with the portions of reduced diameter of both rolls, and a separate support intermediate of said pairs of rolls.

19. A machine for subdividing into sec tions continuously advancing sheet material, including a pair of superposed teed rolls, a cut-off mechanism operating to sever the material after the advancing end has entered between said rolls, and means for rotating said rolls at substantially the speed of the advancing material before the cut-off action, and at a high speed after the cutoft' action to space the cut-off section from the balance of the sheet and continuously increase the width of such spacing until the advancing end of the body of the sheet reaches said rolls.

20. A machine for severing successive sections from the advancing end of a sheet of material, including means for advancing the sheet at a substantially uniform rate, a pair of feed rolls for engaging'the advancing end of the sheet and rotating at substantially the speed of travel of the sheet. means for cutting oil the portion of the sheet engaging said rolls and in advance of the latter, and means for rotating said rolls at a higher speed after the cut-off to space the cut-oft section from the balance of the advancing sheet and continuously increase the width of such spacing until the advancing end of the remainder of the sheet reaches said rolls.

Signed at Philadelphia in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania this 12th day of June A. D. 1922.

BERNARE M. FINE. 

